Thoughts In A Girls Mind

CHAPTER 3

It wasn't until I woke up and heard the sound of sizzling that I realized I had fallen asleep. I looked over and saw steam rising from the barbecue and the smell of hamburger meat flowing around in the air. I sat up and I used my fingers almost like a brush to try and get as many blades of grass I could out of my hair. I went inside and Uncle Josh was cutting up pickles, onions, tomatoes and other stuff to put on the hamburgers.

"Hey Deni. How was school?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was bad?"

"Who's bullying my little Deni again?" I plunked down at the dining table.

"Same old people." I set my head down on my hands and Uncle Josh washed and dried his hands before walking over to beside me. He cupped my face in his hands and then hugged me, forcing me to stand up and hug him back.

"Remember, if you want me to do anything-"

"Yes I know. Thank you." I took a deep breath in, and then out.

"Now, will you help me get supper ready?" He walked back over to the counter where he continued cutting.

I was cleaning up the table from a nice supper of hamburgers when I heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," I said as I put a plate into the dishwasher. I rushed over, unlocked and opened the door. The person standing outside surprised me. "Uhh, hey Nick." I felt a little bit embarrassed. Okay, not a little embarrassed but A LOT. Really, I didn't think that we could ever be normal friends again. Or even hang out together without getting a couple looks in our direction.

"Hey," he said. Obviously he also felt embarrassed. Instinctively, I started twirling my hair but I caught myself and forced my hands down by my side. Aunt Sophie walked behind me with a stack of stuff from the counter that we brought out from our rooms but were too lazy to put back, so we put them on the counter.

"It's nice to offer your guests to come inside," she said before she disappeared around the corner. I smirked a little.

"Sorry that was rude, please, come inside." I held the door open for him. He took off his shoes and we walked over to our couch. I sat in the armchair and he sat on the couch. "So. What did you want to talk about?" Nick looked around the house until he stopped and looked at my baby photo's on the mantle above the fireplace. Most of them were of just me as a baby. Two were with me and my parents and one of them was with me, Aunt Sophie and Uncle Josh. There were a couple more that have relatives that don't look familiar to me. Nick smiles.

"That's you right?" I nodded. "You were cute as a baby." I blushed a little and I hoped that he wouldn't look over at my face.

"Thanks, there's a couple more down the hallway and along the stairs going downstairs."

"How come you don't have more of you with your parents? There's only one." I looked back up at the mantle and looked at the array of photos perfectly set up and aligned thanks to Aunt Sophie.

"You're talking about the third one right?" It was the one of me, Aunt Sophie and Uncle Josh. Nick nodded. I hadn't talked to anyone about my parents dying when I was six. You don't typically go around talking about how your parents died. I took a deep breath in. This would be my first time talking to anyone about it. I never told Lily because one, she never asked and two, when we became friends it was still pretty close to when my parents died so I wasn't very comfortable talking about it. She just naturally assumed that Aunt Sophie and Uncle Josh were my parents.

When I stalled a little to answer Nick's question he looked over at me.

"When I was six my parents died in a car crash. My Aunt and Uncle, who you see in that picture, did not hesitate to take me in. So really, there are two pictures with me and my parents, but one with my Aunt and Uncle." He blinked at me a couple times, opened his mouth and then closed it again.